Gallery: Greatest car chases

The Italian Job (1969) featured a chase scene with three Mini Coopers. The best part, however, was that a great deal of scene took place indoors. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Oakhurst Productions

Vanishing Point (1971) features a series of car chases all centred around the protagonist's 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Twentieth Century Fox

The now-legendary chase scene in The French Connection (1971), which placed Gene Hackman's character in hot pursuit of an elevated subway train, was filmed without any official permission - and without clearing traffic. The result was breathtaking. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Twentieth Century Fox

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) - that is to say, the original and not the Bruckheimer remake - was basically a vanity project for professional stunt driver H.B. Halicki, who wrote, directed and starred in the film. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was entirely in his element.

PHOTO: Screenshot, H.B. Halicki Mercantile Co.

One of the better Roger Moore-era James Bond films, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) featured a spectacular chase scene with Bond's submersible Lotus Esprit.

PHOTO: Screenshot, MGM

Who says a comedy can't make this list? The Blues Brothers (1980) had two great chase scenes, including one through a suburban Chicago shopping mall. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Universal Pictures

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) featured a crucial scene in which Indiana Jones attempts to wrest control of a truck - carrying the Ark of the Covenant - away from the Nazis.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Lucasfilm/Paramount Pictures

The second in Australia's classic Mad Max trilogy, The Road Warrior (1981) featured about as much road-based action as the name would suggest. But it's the final chase that's truly breathtaking. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Warner Bros.

Admittedly, it's not a car chase. But the lightbike scene from Tron (1982) is still awesome. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Walt Disney Pictures

In Back to the Future (1985), Marty McFly uses the DeLorean time machine to outmaneuver a group of Libyan terrorists in a VW Microbus. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Universal Pictures

To Live and Die in L.A. was directed by William Friedkin, best known for The French Connection. A decade later and another show-stopping car chase, this time through the streets and freeways of Los Angeles. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, MGM

The chase scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), involving Arnold Schwarzenegger's chopper, John Connor's dirt bike and T-1000's utility truck hurtling down a dried-out canal, was one of the film's finer moments. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, Carolco Pictures

Shot in various locations in France, John Frankenheimer's Ronin (1998) features a number of great chase scenes, across mountain highways and narrow cobblestone city streets. Watch it here.

PHOTO: Screenshot, United Artists

The Bourne Identity has a memorable chase scene in the streets of Paris. Watch it here.